Memories
by Allosaurus.Jei
Summary: Ch-5 In which Akari muses over what she's learned, brief Tsun v Tsun in the first part.
1. Memories

A/N - SO... I had planned to update my planned pokemon epic _Into Origin_ tonight, but I wanted to edit the first and second chapter together and then post 3 and 4 tomorrow night. So I thought I'd use my new Scrivener program on my new laptop. Which wiped my USB as soon as it booted up. It really pissed me off because I'd spent most of a month moping around refusing to write after I found out Terry Pratchett had died and a Shirobako marathon yesterday just gave me back my motivation. I was in the zone! My advice, make sure you back up whatever you've written before transferring it onto another computer. Because as I found out at 4'o'clock this evening (AEST=GMT+10) it doesn't always go nice and smooth like you want. The worst part was it wiped out my creative writing classwork as well... anyway, here ya go, a quick YRYR fic I wrote up after prowling through my Aka-China folder to get my spirits up.

Disclaimer: I do not own Akari, Chinatsu or any of their merry friends.

Memories

The sakura petals danced and skimmed about the road, the wind blowing them every way but in the direction she had to walk, _how depressing. I don't get to walk through a cherry blossom shower to school this year_. She'd always liked the swath of pink petals leading her way into a new year of learning and fun. _Fun, huh._ Looking at them here, at this crossroad was like standing in front of her own life, now being played out by bit characters and extras. She watched a gaggle of tiny little preteens run down her familiar old path, obviously excited to finally enter Middle School. A heavy sigh escaped her lips, _so long Nanamori._

"China-chan?" The voice was sweet, unbelievably innocent and to her ears, utterly unique. She turned to see a slightly gawky redhead watching her, hands wrung together in front of her new green skirt, a soft concerned expression clogging up her violet eyes. She smirked at the girl. The last half a year had not been very kind to her as far as puberty went; she'd gotten taller but hadn't filled out any leaving her looking like she'd been tugged slowly from both ends, then the accident with her hair dangoes had left her with a kind of mohawk on top and fuzzy sides. In the mornings she looked a little like some bizarre red cockatoo.

"What's wrong, Aka-chan?" She teased, looking down before she made eye-contact. That girl's eyes were dangerous for her right now. _Too full of unpleasant memories_. She cringed, _Guilty ones especially_.

"Mou!" the redhead moaned. "Don't call me Aka-chan, it makes me sound like a baby." She huffed and puffed her cheeks out, trying to pout like the cute little girl she was a year ago. On the awkward teenager in front of her it looked more silly than adorable and she couldn't help but laugh.

"Sorry Akari," she walked over to her best friend and rubbed her cheek. Akari pushed into her palm with a huff, but she could tell it was a satisfied huff. _Geez, this girl. Give her a pat and everything is suddenly fine._ "You're just too much fun to mess with. I can't help myself someti-" _Uh-oh_, she'd looked into those sparkling purple orbs without thinking. The taste of her lips on that boiling summer day, taken against her will, the tears she had neglected to dry, too busy chasing the object of her fruitless crush to even think of the violated girl lying on the clammy wooden floor She flinched away from the confused redhead and clutched her hand to her breast.

"Chinatsu?" Her voice was utterly laced with worry and pain. _Damn it. I went and looked and then I hurt her. Damn it! _While she silently berated herself, her friend, always awash with empathy laced her arms around her shorter frame. "Are you okay? You've been out of sorts all morning. Is it the new place?"

Chinatsu took a mighty breath to calm herself down. _I can do this, I should be used to the guilt by now. I've done enough terrible things to her that worrying her a little is a piece of cake, especially compared to... _She didn't finish the thought, not very eager to revisit the Chinatsu/Akari Worst Of edition this early in the morning. "No," her voice was steady. _I'm terrible, I'm way too good at brushing this stuff away_. "I'm glad we found that apartment, especially with how close it is to the school." She looked back down the nostalgic avenue of sakura trees. "I guess I just feel a bit out of sorts going this way. It feels like we're making a wrong turn." She tossed her mane of hair, the same colour as the thousands of petals littering the road. "Aa-ah. I hate this awkward feeling."

Her friend giggled into her neck. _Gah, Akari, you'll give me goosebumps all over if you do that. _She didn't make any verbal protest though, her guilt imploring her to just let the redhead do whatever she wanted until it went away and she returned to being that sadistic, snarky monster they both knew so well. "I know what you mean. I tried to avoid looking that way in case I remembered all the terrible stuff that happened to me." The pinkette stiffened in her grip, thankfully Akari was too absorbed in her melancholic flashback. "Every year another terrible introduction. Then being ignored by my best friends for the better part of two years. All the times I fell down those darn stairs. A new embarrassing situation popping up every month. That time I floated down the river in that freaking barrel, I thought bears were gonna eat me." She stopped a moment and pecked Chinatsu on the cheek. "Thanks for coming to get me back then by the way. Then the explosion in the morning. Actually lets just go with every explosion. I don't know how Nishigaki-sensei managed to rope me into being her exploding dummy after Rise-senpai left..." Akari went on and on, listing almost every embarrassing or painful incident that happened over their three years of Middle School and the only thing that stood out to her was none of them aligned with Chinatsu's own personal guilty charges list. "Oh! And the pudding thing." _Okay, that one was my fault_. While her taller friend blushed a scarlet that made her hair seem pale, she began to wonder how she was forgiven for all the sadistic little jibes, all the experimenting, the pushing, the 'practice'. Was this girl in front of her some kind of Bodhisattva? _Actually, I'd already figured that one out, how else could she put up with me_. Sparkling violet eyes caught her own turquoise pair and a beaming grin from Akari erased all doubt that this was some ordinary high-school freshman. She reached out and ruffled the girl's soft crimson hair. _She's like a puppy._

"And you're like a kitty-cat." The grin was cheeky now.

"How do you always know what I'm thinking?" She asked, continuing to pet her friend. It was really soothing, she'd have to do it more often.

"Not always," her best friend answered honestly. _Always honest, just another virtue this girl throws in my face_. The petting became a bit rougher as Chinatsu kneaded her frustration away in the fluffy red crest. Her embrace became a bit tighter in response, it was like she seemed to accept whatever punishment the pinkette decided to throw her way and respond with unconditional love and affection. "But its easy to tell when you're touching me." This time it was her turn to blush, although it wasn't a ridiculous traffic-light red; just a light pink across her slightly pudgy cheeks and her delicate nose. They stood there for a good ten minutes, just wrapped in each other. Remembering. Akari reveled in the soft pats, glad they weren't on the same magnitude as Chinatsu's old massages. Chinatsu reminiscing due to the warmth she felt now, it was just like the day when Yui had broken her childish romantic fantasy and she'd laid in Akari's arms weeping for nearly a whole day. The summer festival last year, the redhead being accosted by two high school boys and the pinkette thrashing the pair of them so badly she'd torn her new yukata. A promise not to let anyone else do anything terrible to her. A smile after she'd changed and handed over her own clothes, telling her she looked cuter in a yukata anyway. The fit she'd thrown in the girls bathroom months after, kicking doors apart, smashing a basin, blood dripping down a cracked mirror. The prickling sensation as her dear friend cried all over her injured hands pleading her not to hurt herself anymore. That damn pudding incident and the subsequent new hairstyle she'd been forced to adopt, petting her softly and crooning that it suited her better than the dangoes ever did. Then her sister... and finding the new place to be away before something went truly wrong. Here they were now hugging each other in the middle of the street at... _wait, what time is it? _She checked her watch.

"Aaaaah! AKARI!"

"GAH!" The poor girl looked like an air raid siren had suddenly gone off in her face. _Though if she ever said something like that I'd make her sorry, hehehe... Damn it! Now isn't the time for fantasies._

"We're going to be late!"

"Eh?"

Chinatsu threw her friend's arms away and began to run in the direction of their new high school. "C'mon! You don't want to be late for your next embarrassing introduction do you?"

"Chinatsu! Mou!" Akari chased her after an uncoordinated start. "It's not going to be embarrassing this time!"

"Firing my way into everyone's hearts, Nice to meet you! I'm Akaza Akari," the pinkette called out.

"That was the first one!" The redhead yelled after her dearest friend.

"I know," she looked back with a sadistic grin. "And that was the least embarrassing one."

"MOU! CHINATSU!"


	2. Problems

There were only 4 problems she'd decided. Four issues that she had with her best friend now that they were living together. Chinatsu crunched on her jam-laden toast while she mulled over these problems, her red-haired roommate humming as she smothered her own breakfast in the thick mulberry jam Tomoko had given them as a moving in gift, she'd originally thought seven jars was way too much for a pair of newly-minted high school girls but her elder sister apparently knew the Akaza stomach very well. They were already on the third jar and it wasn't even Golden Week yet. Her predilection towards sweets was not one of Chinatsu's hang-ups however. If anything it made cooking for her and buying drinks a hell of a lot easier. _Spot sweetest thing in the display, insert coins, happy Akari_. No, her hang-ups were things that troubled, irritated and confused her.

Number 1 was not actually all that annoying. If anything it was creepy, sometimes outright chilling. It nearly had her wetting the bed the other night and now she had to sleep facing the other way or it just sat there unnerving her until daybreak. For such a happy, smiley, even saintly girl as Akari, it was like all the darkness chose to come out as some sort of expression of demonic glee. She loved the girl to bits but Akaza Akari's sleeping face was absolutely terrifying. Eyes half open, blankly staring into the depths of your soul, while her mouth was contorted into a knowing smirk. As though she knew what you were thinking and she found it highly amusing. A chill ran up her spine at the memory, even now years after their first sleepover it still made her shiver. _Doesn__'t help that she knows me like the back of her own hand, I can't even stop that paranoid little piece of me from suggesting black magic and demonic forces. _If any of her friends had been privy to the inner workings of Chinatsu's mind at that point they would have blanched at the implication that someone other than the pinkette was communing with the dark side of the occult, but for the girl herself it was a nonsensical but unavoidable conclusion. In part because she'd always been a little spiritual anyhow and because of her various phobias. There were quite a few of them, Sakurako had once joked, "_It__'s kinda funny, eh. The scariest girl in the school is actually just a big scaredy-cat." _She was simply glad that in three years the only change to the girl's sleeping pattern had been a bedtime push of 1 whole hour. Meaning that as long as Chinatsu fell asleep facing the other way, the energetic redhead would be up almost an hour and a half before she was and she'd only ever lock gazes with the 'Face of Terror' if she woke up in the middle of the night to relieve herself or shaking out of some nightmare. Of course then that damn expression never helped, but it had never actually hurt her either.

Number 2 was irritating. It was something she almost hated, something that made her groan every damn morning. Who would've thunk it. But it turns out Akari was in fact an avid Shonen manga fan. That wasn't much of a problem, as far as Chinatsu was concerned, bring on the manga! Pile it high! More options for the curious redhead meant it was less likely the girl would turn to her own personal collection of manga, light novels and other youth literature, a good two thirds of which was Girls Love (some quite explicit), which she would never be in the mood to explain to Akari. Her cheeks turned hot as she glanced towards her roommate, happily crunching on her toast. That was not a conversation she would ever look forward to given the vastly different ways she was sure they saw each other. No, the manga was not a problem. The problem was that most popular Shonen manga soon became popular Shonen anime. That was what annoyed the pinkette. Multi-episode screaming power-ups, all the sweaty, oiled, half-naked men and boys (_if they__'re like that why don't they just get it on? _Most of the remaining third of her reading materials tended to be very BL oriented), all the bright flashing colours and mismatched soundtracks. Seriously, if she had to listen to one more spiel about 'Nakama' and 'Guts' she was going to vomit blood. Number 2 was the reason Chinatsu had been putting a part of the allowance her parents still gave her aside to buy a cheap tablet and a pair of cute headphones, mostly black with violet highlights to match her eyes without clashing against the scarlet of her hair. Though she'd been keeping that a surprise, both because she didn't want to have the 'I'm sick of you watching _Dragonwhatsits X _and _Pixie Something-or-other_ at high volume in the lounge-room we share' and also because she was really looking forward to the expression on Akari's face when she presented her with the present. In any case it seemed that Number 2 was at least a problem she could fix or alleviate a little.

Number 3 was something she couldn't get away from if she tried. A Certain Annoying Blond. Apparently now that Akari and Chinatsu lived together it made it that much more convenient for her to visit her "_two favouritest little kouhai in the world!_" Which meant frequent Kyouko invasions. While sometimes this wasn't bad, she did consider the perverted otaku a dear friend most of the time (_though I will never say that to her face) _but the frequency of these visits had risen over the past fortnight and after having to physically kick her out last night, two hours after the redhead had nodded off, Chinatsu had nearly had enough. Sure, she knew the reason why Kyouko had been over more often lately, in fact her teeth ground together with a bit of leftover jealousy at the cause. But Yui's new boyfriend was not her problem and it did not mean she would tolerate her senpai disturbing her sleep or daily life. She was not as magnanimous as Yui or as tenderhearted as Akari. A long sigh led to the cessation of the jovial crunching across the table.

"China-chan?" the redhead had stopped eating, obviously disturbed by her best friends apparent distress. Her violet eyes shone with tender worry. Another sigh followed, this one short and topped with a small grin.

"Don't worry about it Akari," she replied. "I'm just thinking about Kyouko-senpai and well… you know."

Akari choked back an awkward laugh. She knew.

"I have no idea why she annoys me so much." Chinatsu continued, before pausing to think for a moment. "Actually scratch that. I know _exactly_ why she annoys me so much. Freaking molester." The last two words were said under her breath but her roommate caught them, and while it was somewhat true they both knew that Kyouko would never actually do anything to hurt anyone that way, and so it was little wonder that the saintly and all-forgiving Akari would choose to defend her.

"Chinatsu!" she started, or intended to start. A bit of movement however led to a rather large blob of jam spilling onto her chest and rolling down until it fell of the small mound of her breast and splattered on the table. The stain was long, red and slightly transparent, making an uneven line from collar to chest and complemented by a spatter pattern across her midriff.

Chinatsu couldn't stop herself from giggling at the look on her best friend's face. Akari had just stared at the blob of jam as though it had betrayed her, outrage and disappointment combined into a deathly serious expression she'd never point at a living being now aimed at an inanimate lump of her sister's homemade condiment. It was too hard to hold back the laughter at that particular level of ridiculousness.

"Mou!" The redhead put her toast down, done with the treacherous spread now and stood up. Then came Number 4. Akari quickly stripped the stained white shirt off and groaned again when she saw the mulberry syrup had even managed to leave a deep red stain on her bra. "That's going to show through isn't it? Darn it!" She removed the offending undergarment and moved towards her dresser, oblivious to her roommate's discomfort.

Number 4 was something the pinkette highly doubted she could ever control or even alleviate without threatening the entire relationship they had built this living situation on. It was that Akari was far too free with herself around the house. Out of the bath and she'd simply wander about in a towel until she was dry. Clothes rained on or sprayed with mud/ink/syrup/etcetera and she'd just strip them off and change, there and then in the lounge-room. Milling around the small apartment on the weekends and she sometimes didn't even bother to wear underwear, or only underwear. Chinatsu wasn't sure which of those was worse yet. Of course there shouldn't be a problem at all, it was Akari's place as well and she was allowed to treat it as her own home, if anything it was definitely a problem with Chinatsu herself. She could hardly say "_You__'re a girl, be more careful!_" the answer to that would be "_But we__'re both girls_" punctuated by a giggle and a sparkling smile. How could she say to that pure, naive, saint-of-a-girl that she, Yoshikawa Chinatsu, was a diehard lesbian in the throes of puberty and her cute, slim, best friend parading around the place in almost nothing was driving her hormones up the wall, around the bend and through the roof. She couldn't, not without admitting some of the things that came to her at night and frightening the poor girl senseless. Her cheeks hot as she struggled to convince herself to look away from the barechested girl now trying to pick out a suitably 'cute' bra. _Why? Who but me is going to see it? ARGH!_ She ran her hands furiously against her scalp, mussing up her long, sakura-pink mane in the process and stood up. Reaching for her bookbag and thankful she'd already put on her blazer so she could escape without delay.

"I'll be outside Akari," she said, head down and hurriedly left the apartment, stopping only to put her shoes on and peel off a quiet "Ittekimasu."

—

There was only One Problem she'd decided. One issue that she had with her best friend now that they were living together. Akari watched, yellow polka-dotted bra still halfway around her chest as her pink-haired friend raced out the door, head down and cheeks ablaze. She'd been like that a lot lately and while she'd never say it annoyed or angered her. It did concern her, in both senses of the word she was sure. She was concerned for Chinatsu, and she was sure that the Problem concerned something Akari was doing. Anyone who wasn't her would probably have found a great number of problems living with a Yoshikawa, particularly the youngest one. Cooking without paying attention created a flavoursome and beautiful meal while any attempt made with precision and focus somehow turned into a Lovecraftian horror the likes mankind should never look upon. An innocent offer to massage your sore shoulders turned the apartment into something akin to Ming Dynasty torture chamber (both were, according to Akane, family traits). Sleeping, she sometimes migrated across to Akari's futon and then migrated back, blanket and slumbering girl in tow, the acerbic and even downright hurtful comments she would make whenever she let her guard down, the way she was so utterly terrified of bugs that she'd scream, hiss and nearly crush her arms or legs trying to hide behind whoever happened to be nearby. Yoshikawa Chinatsu was a flawed human being in a great many ways but the only problem Akari had with living with her was nothing to do with her brute strength, awful personality or horrifying creative senses.

The Problem was a little disheartening. Chinatsu tended to speak her mind, often only keeping her tongue if she was trying to be polite. While this was not a bad trait, and even with her tendency towards sarcasm and sadism there was enough sweetness, love and affection to be garnered from a conversation with the pinkette. The only other time she tended to stay quiet was if she was afraid, not scared of bugs, gore, deep water, heights, snakes, clowns, bears, octopodes, big dogs, etcetera, etcetera. Afraid of something that seemed to be her biggest phobia - loneliness. Of course nothing Chinatsu could ever do or say would lead Akari to abandon her, but in this case the redhead's feelings were not the important part so much as making sure her best friend understood that and was ready to share whatever was trapped and rattling inside her head. As she finished changing, tucking the fresh off-white shirt into her school skirt she walked past their separate bookshelves. The pinkette was always a little wary about other people borrowing her books, in fact it seemed that the bookshelf was almost 'off-limits' to everyone but Kyouko. A very rare consideration and understanding between the pair who were usually as close as mustard and azuki beans and something she'd noticed immediately in light of Chinatsu's usual sour approch to anything regarding their blond friend. Of course it had simply fueled her curiosity and once when her roommate had been out running an errand she had a look through some of them. All she'd found were sweet, heartfelt stories about romance and love, often between two or more girls, though one had been a rather racy tale set in an all-boys school, and she hadn't found anything particularly worrying or scandalous within (she had only picked a few from one shelf after all) but maybe that was why the otaku was 'allowed' to read them. She knew that the two of them were attracted to women, although Kyouko seemed to like almost anything provided it was cute/beautiful/interesting, and that her best friend had even carried a serious crush on Yui for nearly two and a half years. For Akari, none of that really mattered, she didn't really understand romance when applied to herself. Maybe it was something about that. About being a lesbian or whatever they called it? _Maybe I should ask Kyouko-chan about it?_ She drifted towards the table and picked up her blazer and bookbag, cleaning up their breakfast mess at the same time. It was while disposing of the uneaten toast and piling the dishes near the sink that she noticed the two bentoes still set out on the bench where she'd placed them after preparing them this morning.

"Mou! China-chan, always forgetting your lunch." She giggled as she put both inside her bag. She had decided. Today she would ask Kyouko about being a lesbian, she would convince Yui to invite them (especially the blond) over more often and she would have a tasty and happy lunch with her best friend. A girl she still considered herself lucky to know and even luckier now that she could be with her every day. It would be a good day. She pulled her shoes on and clenched her fists in a pose that signaled her intention to fight and win. "Yosh! Lets do this, Ittekimasu~!"


	3. Considerations

It was my birthday yesterday so when I woke up today and found someone had favourited this story I was inspired to try out my new keyboard and write a Yui chapter, especialy because a few reviews/comments asked about her Boyfriend. You get a hint at what kind of guy he is here and a name. I doubt if he'll ever make an appearance because this is primarily an Akari/Chinatsu fic and I tend to shy away from OCs anyway.

Last time I updated I was using an onscreen keyboard with a kinda shoddy mouse. It was a pain just trying to edit the damn thing before posting. Because of that I didn't include what I wanted to say, so I shall do it here and now. 1 - The references last chapter obviously referred to DBZ and Fairy Tail, as well as a sly Index/Railgun one in Problem 3. 2 - Memories was originally just a Oneshot inspired by the OVA but thanks to reading the reviews and a *cough*herb*cough* infused brainstorming session I came up with the scene for Problems. I'll leave the title as Memories because I can't think of a better one for now but the rating and summary is liable to change. 3 - Because it was a oneshot, I don't have a long-term plan or scheme regarding this tale and so a warning to any fans, followers or people who just check in, the updates for this fic will vary wildly. the first 2 were two months, 2 &amp; 3 under two weeks. I have no idea when the next one will strike, it might be two days from now, it might be another fortnight, might not even be until the new season starts (bee tee dubbel you: How excited are we all for that?!). So... if you get annoyed by a prolonged update feel free to tell me off or even suggest ways to improve or stories to tell. Criticism is always appreciated as only through acknowledging our faults do we hone ourselves.

Disclaimer: I have no legal rights over the Goraku-Bu and their affiliates, it all belongs to Namori-sensei

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Chapter 3 - Considerations

Funami Yui was not by nature an overtly feminine person. Because of this most of her friends were rather shocked when she mentioned she was dating a boy from her cram school. In fact only two of them hadn't responded in either open-mouthed shock or dopey confusion. One of them had been her classmate Ikeda Chitose, her simple "_congratulations Funami-san__" _had actually been a bit of a surprise to Yui herself, which when she mulled over the reason why had made her feel a little guilty and foolish. A tiny part of her had assumed that the polite, kind and (for those who had never had more than a simple conversation with the girl) unexpectedly perverted Student Council secretary held the belief that Yuri was the only kind of love worth being interested in or happy about. After an embarrassing apology and a brief conversation it had turned out that while Chitose certainly was a 100% Girl's Love Fanatic, she had also known from the first day they'd met that Yui was, unlike most of their friends, straight as ruler. That had been about two weeks ago and the conversations they'd had since had been much less restrained thanks to her awareness that _she_ at least was not playing Lead in one of the white-haired girl's often calamitous delusions. In fact she was enjoying one of these conversations now while they waited for morning Homeroom to start.

"So Takanashi-san bought it for you then?" Chitose said, examining the charm currently attached to her raven-haired friend's mobile phone. "It's very cute."

"Mm," Yui looked at the chibi figure of Li*k and frowned a little. _It really is cute isn__'t it?_ "Maybe it's a bit too cute for me but…" _Tooru got it for me._

"Nonsense!" her classmate exclaimed. "The light green and yellow adding a dash of colour to the plain black of your phone, the cute proportions clashing with the sword and the heroic expression on his face. Plus the fact that your shy lover knew that this was your favourite character, it all blends together to become the perfect charm for Funami Yui-san!"

Yui felt her cheeks heat up a little at the mention of her 'shy lover'. She didn't really think they were at _lover_ stage just yet, but it was kind of nice to hear someone unabashedly refer to them as such. Embarrassed, she scratched at her cheek to try to cover it. "Thanks Chitose. I was a little worried but I guess you're right."

"When it comes to the aesthetics of cute girls, I always am." They shared a bit of a giggle at that until the white-haired girl's attention was stolen by something near the classroom door. "Speaking of cute girls," she sent one of her winning smiles and a short wave in that direction which prompted Yui to see what it was. _Ah_.

The other person to react to her new relationship in a 'normal' manner was now standing by the entrance, smiling back but seemingly a little nervous about being surrounded by scary senpai, most of them male and seemingly attempting to coerce information out of the poor girl. _Geez, where__'s Chinatsu when you need her?_

She left her seat and sidled over towards the group of boys, one of whom saw her coming and seemed to relay the scramble order. She heaved a sigh at that, thanks to her masculine and succinct way of talking, tall stature, excellent performance in P.E. and the apparently intimidating expressions on her face, Yui was now regarded as something akin to an object of fear amongst the second year boys. Kyouko had referred to her as "_The Legendary Delinquent Queen, Protector of all Womankind, One of the Four Heavenly Demons of Kataoda Academy, Funami Yui-dono!__" _Of course that was all in the perverted idiot's head (especially considering she was the only person who'd ever used the words 'heavenly demons of Kataoda' before) but it seems her reputation of being a scary man-hater was not.

One of her classmates had either not heard the order or rumours, or was brave enough to disregard them, normally she'd be glad. Maybe even try to be friends with the guy. But the look on Akari's face, that slightly crooked smile she got whenever they'd dragged her into a situation she wasn't enjoying but was far too polite to refuse. Yui had seen that face a great many times and every time it made her chest feel heavy. The redhead had enough to deal with being invisible most of the time; she didn't need to dealing with stuff she hated on top of it.

"Hey, Akari" She said, stepping up besides the boy, who shot her a perplexed and dirty look. This smoothed back into a greasy looking smile almost immediately. _Okay, definitely don__'t wanna be friends with this guy._

"Ah, so your name's Akari-cha-"

"You know if someone is bothering you, you don't have to force yourself - even if they are your senpai." She smiled at the redhead, whose glittering violet eyes were conveying all the thanks she was far too polite to blurt out in front of the guy (_was it Kitamura-kun? Or Kitaokana-kun? Eh, let's just go with Sleazebag-kun_)."For instance if you don't like what they're doing you can say," and she shot a deadly look his way, "_Get lost, Sleazebag-kun._" Akari blanched and Sleazebag-kun seemed to want to wring out a wrathful protest but the glare she had fixed on him with brooked no argument. He clicked his teeth and wandered to the back of the class.

"Um, thank you Yui-chan," the redhead replied, "He wasn't bothering me that much though, not enough to call him 'sleazebag' in any case."

"You obviously didn't see the look he gave me when I interrupted his hitting on you." She smiled at her childhood friend, too kind to say a bad word about anyone, even if they were the worst kind of person. "Anyway he doesn't matter. You're here for some reason?"

Those violet orbs looked a little blank for a moment before "Ah! I just wanted to ask if we could come by on the weekend, you know the Goraku-bu haven't had a sleepover for a while now and um" _Um?_ "I felt like we haven't seen each other very much lately."

"What's really up?" '_We_' _and um? That doesn__'t like genuine Akari_.

"Eh?" Her eyes and expression suddenly turned to mild panic. The girl was way too honest, she couldn't lie to save her life and while she was sure Akari wasn't actually lying. There was something else about her request that wasn't quite upfront.

"Akari, you're too honest for your own good sometimes." She reached out and rested her hand on the girl's shoulder. "You don't have to be roundabout with me you know. What's on your mind?"

"Yui-chan," small grateful tears shone.

"There there," she smiled at her oldest friend. "Now are you gonna explain what's going on or are we going to weep until the bell sounds?"

"Ah, well. It's about Kyouko-chan." _Of course it is._ "And Chinatsu-chan." _Ah. _"It's just that ever since you started dating Tooru-san-"

"Kyouko's been avoiding me, going to your place and annoying the seven hells out of Chinatsu." The awkward nod of confirmation made her want to let out a sigh so big it might cause her to faint. Instead she settled for pinching the bridge of her nose. Yui looked into those bright honest eyes again and remembered that when she'd told her two kouhai the news about her having a boyfriend. Chinatsu had simply stood there seemingly stuck dumb like a deer in headlights; while Akari's first question had been "_Is he nice?_" followed by "_Do you like him?_" Those questions, and the look in her eyes as she asked them were something she was very grateful for after Kyouko's reaction - "_Ha-ha, it was April Fools last week Yui!_" followed by an almost silent "_Oh__"_ and suddenly no best friend for a fortnight. It seemed that the blonde had some sort of issue with her being together with a guy but she had no idea why because whenever they talked nowadays it was always just waffle about school and food and then a hurried farewell. "To be honest I'm a little sick of her always blowing me off lately. I haven't had more than a ten minute conversation with her in a week and she never replies to my mails anymore."

"I don't like it when you two aren't talking either. It hurts a little in here." The red-haired saint of a girl pressed both of her hands to her chest. While Yui had no objections to the three people she considered practically family staying over at her apartment, she was sure that even if she had they would've melted in an instant after that particular line. A rare cheeky grin appeared alongside the cunning idea inspired by her saintly friend.

"Yosh. You can stay, so long as you repeat that exact line to Kyouko when you tell her she'd invited." _Try and blow that one off Baka. It__'ll be a critical for sure. _"Oh, and if she still hesitates after that make sure you tell her there's two litres of Rum Raisin waiting for her."

Akari responded with a glittering smile, thinking not about the fact that she was being sent off the bribe and emotionally blackmail their childhood friend but simply glad she was on track to solving one of Chinatsu, Yui and even Kyouko's problems. She mock saluted Yui with a "Hai!" and ran off just as the bell sounded.

Yui watched her friend try to dash around her senpai, polite to a fault as always. _Looks like it__'ll be nice weekend._

…

_You better not chicken out Kyouko._


	4. Symptoms

Ohayou Gozaimasu

So a few notes, first is this chapter is split between both Akari and Kyouko because I couldn't decide who was better to tell the tale with and decided to split it approx 1/4 Akari, 3/4 Kyouko, the split is at the second line break. Next chapter will be all Akari and there may be a few side-stories to tell after I'm done with this particular tale, Which will be in 3-4 chapters (after-school/home, sleepover, climax) aslo this one is a big one because I had fun, can't promise they'll all be the same size from now on. Second note is about Kyouko's speech and thoughts, because of her past identity as essentially a more teary version of middle school Akari my headcanon is that she loathes to be taken seriously and thus actively suppresses her sensible side, along with her sarcasm and embarrassment in order to 'play' the perfect boke; hence her thoughts in my story are quite a bit more venomous than most depictions of her. Third is no way in hell am I doing Ayano's puns. Its not that I don't find them funny (although I'm not a big pun fan I'll admit) its simply that my Japanese is way too beginners course for me to even attempt to string together a clever location based pun using Japanese words as the base. Final note - Kawaii Kouhai Keiji is literally Cute Underclassmen/Junior Cage. Cage in japanese is just phonetic unless it's a specific type of cage or is a synonym, which there were quite a few, but I wanted the triple K_i because it looked kinda nice.

That's all for now, enjoy.

Disclaimer - Namori-sensei is the masterful creator of YRYR, I am simply a fan who enjoys the characters.

* * *

Chapter 4 - Symptoms

Akari watched the floor as she walked through the 2nd years' corridor, carefully manoeuvring around her senpai so as not to appear to rude. She was completely oblivious to the stares following her as she went. The whispers too, '_Hey isn't that girl always with that Sakura Demon?' 'Her hair looks so cute; I wonder where she got it done.' 'Damn first years, can't even be bothered to look at us, huh. Need to teach them some respect'_, were summarily ignored. Not that she as doing it on purpose, it was simply the fact that she was already giving her full attention to something no one else could see. _Chinatsu smiled when I surprised her with her forgotten bento today. _The lanky redhead stopped for a moment and remembering the way her best friend's face had lit up earlier began to giggle to herself, freaking out every 2nd year that happened to be watching. Too elated to hold it in she looked up and began to skip to Kyouko's class, slowing to an awkward stop when she realised that she'd been skipping in full view of all her senior students. Her faced burned red and she spun around to see if anybody had seen her embarrassing moment. Every student in the hallway was looking away from her, even those whose bodies were facing her way. _Oh good, nobody saw. Sometimes I'm really glad I'm mostly invisible._ She straightened her skirt and entered the classroom with a loud but polite "Shitsurei shimasu." In the hall the assembled student body let out a collective sigh and turn back to their conversations, trying to ignore the fact that they'd all, each and every one, just tried to make one awkward kouhai feel a little less embarrassed.

"AH! It's Akari!" A loud voice boomed across the mostly empty classroom, followed by an equally loud blonde girl whose cheek collided with hers and began rubbing up, down, side to side and then away, followed by a brief lick which made her squeal and squirm her way out of Kyouko's slightly perverted embrace (the otaku's hands had mostly been attached to Akari's butt for the duration). She was about to greet (_and admonish, I swear_) her childhood friend when a shrill voice cut straight to the point.

"TOSHINOU KYOUKO! What do you think you're doing? You can't just molest a random student, even if she is your friend." Ayano's domineering pose complimented the stern look on her face. It was a shame the effect was a little less overwhelming than it had been in Middle School, when she'd been the tallest. Now she only just beat Chinatsu when it came to height, which most of the girls had decided was not particularly hard to do. This didn't stop Akari from being awed by the sheer force of her personality every time they met however and she still referred to the older girl with polite and respectful language. "Have a little decency for once in your life."

"So they can't be random huh?" Kyouko pretended to look contemplative for a second before sending the Student Council President a grin filled to the brim with lewd cheekiness. "So it won't be a problem if I molest you then?" She added a few waggling fingers to emphasise her point. Her intended victim blushed bright red.

"A-a-a-a-a-a-are you kidding me!" She shouted. Her face became even brighter after a moment, probably due to visualising that particular scenario. "O-o-o-o-of course you can't m-molest me! It's a flagrant violation of school rules and the l-l-law! I-i-it's unwholesome and p-p-p-p-perverted! So…. N-no!"

"Buuuuu… stingy," was Kyouko's reply. "What am I going to do without my daily dose of _AyanoBits_?"

"When did I become your daily dose of anything? And what the hell are '_AyanoBits_'?"

Another huskier and much quieter voice cut in with, "What are you, some perverted old man? Sit down and shut up the pair of you."

Akari turned to find a white haired girl with glasses standing next to her, if not for the disgruntled expression and the pale green eyes she would be the spitting image of her elder twin sister. "Good Morning Chizuru-senpai," she said, greeting the more calm and quiet member of this trio of 2nd years.

"It's past noon," the younger Ikeda curtly replied, still she smiled at her beleaguered kouhai and said, "It still sounds too formal Akaza-chan, you can relax around me a bit more. I'm not going to bite your head off or anything."

"Hai!" The young redhead sent a sparkling smile in reply.

"Then can I relax a whole lot more then?" Kyouko purred, sidling up beside the newest target for her seemingly incurable sexual harassment and making a rather childish kissy face.

Chizuru pushed her glasses up her nose and sent a withering glare her way. "You come any closer and I'll cut your lips off." Akari and Ayano shivered at the unconcealed malice in her voice, whereas the blonde idiot simply pouted.

"Sniff sniff… you're so cold Chizuru-chan," turning her face away from her friends and pretending to sob. "You needn't bury your love for me under words of hate any longer… sniff…" She turned back with a surprisingly serious look on her face. Clenching a fist in determination, "Now come, take off your pantie- AAAH! JOKE! It was a joke! Wait, Chizuru-san, no Chizuru-sama. Yaaaaaaa-"

Akari watched the two 17 year old girls tear about the classroom with a stone-faced smile; she didn't know what to say, although it wasn't as if she'd never seen Kyouko being chased by an angry victim/target before. She turned towards her upstanding senpai to apologise for her childhood friend's actions only to find Ayano standing there watching the spectacle with a faint grimace and a look of utter defeat in her eyes. "Sugiura-senpai! Are you alright?"

The older redhead turned to her and let out a humourless laugh followed by a pained smile. "Ah, I'm actually kind of glad they waited until lunchtime today. Sorry about this Akaza-san." Akari repressed the urge to embrace the sorrowful sight before her; _it's rude to just hug your senpai!_ Ayano turned back to the 'chase' to see Kyouko narrowly dodge a grasping hand aimed at her throat while spouting a defiant line that was surely taken from whatever the blonde girl happened to be watching recently. "Was she always like this?"

"Kyouko-chan?"

"Mm"

"Hehe, actually until she started Middle School Kyouko-chan was a huge cr-" Akari's reminiscing was cut short by two hands clamping over her mouth. The chase seemingly forgotten, Kyouko now stood in front of her lanky kouhai with a nervous smile on her face and a wild look in her eyes. Everyone in the classroom had turned to see the usually boisterous girl go quiet, even Chizuru, obsessed with the destruction of that Certain Annoying Blond, had stopped her assault out of curiosity.

"Go on," the white haired girl goaded. An unmistakably malicious smile on her face. "'_Kyouko-chan_' was a huge what?" The perverted otaku shivered this time.

"Mfffbblee," was the younger girl's only response, still silenced by her friend.

"N-nothing important," Kyouko replied, her voice betraying a very untypical wavering. "Hey Akari!"

"Mm?"

"You're here for something right?" Her voice was now syrupy sweet, trying her hardest to push the conversation away from her embarrassing past. Violet eyes sparkling, Akari nodded her head enthusiastically and began to mumble a worded response into her older friend's hands. "Yosh yosh. Let's all sit down and chat, ne?"

"AH! Trying to change the subject," the violent Ikeda accused.

"I second the sit down idea," Ayano suddenly cut in. "Neither of you have eaten lunch yet anyway." As if on cue both Kyouko and her attempted murderer's stomachs growled in protest.

* * *

With the four girls now quietly assembled around three desks pushed together the remainder of their classmates seemed to ignore them. _Probably not anticipating anymore free entertainment_, Kyouko thought. _I wonder if I should make another ruckus later… _a glance Ayano's way killed any desire for that however. _Maybe not._ The glare the short redhead was sending her way was not one that would allow her to wriggle out of a scolding this time, regardless of how big her crush was. _I wonder how long she's going to drag this Tsundere act out. Not that I mind though, she's pretty cute as is._ "Hehehe."

"What are you giggling at now, Toshinou Kyouko?" _Still with the full name? Aaha, whatever._

"Nothin', just an amusing anecdote for my doujin," she lied seamlessly and popped the cap on her green tea. Turning towards her childhood friend and putting on a graceful air, "Now Akari-sama, whatever seems to be the matter? Come, you may ask me anything?" The blonde waved her hand in a graceful manner. "I shall do my utmost to fulfil your expectations."

"What manga is that from?" came the acerbic and slightly muffled voice to her left. She glanced to see Chizuru, now in _non-murder_ mode, chewing on an onigiri. _Nothing you'd be familiar with, unless you happen to like BL and Butlers, shame Chinatsu isn't here. She'd definitely get the reference._ Kyouko took a large but dignified sip from her tea to bite down the comeback and play into her adopted role.

"Um… Kyouko-chan," Akari was obviously a little nervous. _Aw, she's so cute like that. _"What's it like? Being a lesbian?"

"TOSHINOU KYOUKO!" the now tea-saturated President shrieked. _Ah, that was my bad._

"Haha," she laughed, rather weakly. "Sorry about that." Kyouko stood up and grabbed her gym towel out of her bag before moving around the group to dry the shorter girl's face and hair.

"Sorry Sugiura-senpai!" the taller redhead was now flustered, like a puppy caught chewing a slipper she looked about trying to find some way to alleviate the situation.

"Don't apologise," Chizuru said after swallowing the last of her rice ball. "It wasn't your fault that this pervert spat tea everywhere." _Pervert again? At least I'm not crushin' on my sister._

"But-" Akari's protest was cut short by Ayano's hand and a gentle smile.

"Chizuru's words, however harsh," the younger twin looked away at that, "are correct. It wasn't you who suddenly decided to have a ridiculous reaction to a simple question."

"Simple?" Kyouko couldn't help that slipping out. _What was simple about that? Akari asking me stuff like that; it's like Yui's mum coming up to me and asking what my favourite sex position is. It's way out there. Too much gap, not enough moe!_

"Ah, it was a relatively simple question," the blonde had stopped moving the towel and the still-drenched President took the opportunity to make sure her ears were dry inside. "A little unexpected maybe," then shooting her 5-year crush with a glare that'd make a snake back off, "but no excuse to spit a drink all over someone. What are you, a cartoon character?"

"Haa…" She had no response so she simply returned to towelling dry the older girl's hair.

Ayano, satisfied that Kyouko had been suitably scolded turned her attention to her still flustered kouhai. "Akaza-san, I understand your choice of whom to ask this question, but could you tell me why you're asking?"

"Mm," Akari wrung her hands together. "Actually, I'm a bit worried lately. China-ch- I mean Chinatsu has been all out of sorts lately and I can't figure it out. I thought maybe it was something she thinks I wouldn't understand and…" her cheeks flashed red "and that's the only part of her I don't know anything about." _That's for sure, ever since me and Yui graduated the pair of them have been joined at the hip but Akari's practically immune to sexuality._

"Are you sure it's not a family problem?" Chizuru chimed in. "Those kind if issues can be hard to talk about even amongst friends."

"Nope," Kyouko replied without a beat. Stilling her hands for a moment, "No way in hell Chinatsu-chan would keep any sister dramas from Akari after what happened last month." Akari dropped her head in response. _Yah, if only I hadn't forgotten about all that stuff in Akane's room. Sorry Akari._

"Huh?" Both of her classmates seemed to want to know more.

"Nothing relevant to this discussion, don't ask again." The force in her words seemed to surprise the pair of them, but they simply nodded in response.

"Well," Chizuru tried to move the discussion away from sisters, _bet that's hard for a siscon_. "What about her parents?"

At that Akari lifted her head and let out an awkward laugh. "Heehe, um… It might sound a little insensitive, but Chinatsu doesn't really care very much about her mum and dad."

"Eh?" the white haired girl seemed a little surprised at that while under Kyouko's hands she noticed it was now the older redhead who had dropped her head. _Kyouko-Memo #10234 - Parents, delicate subject around Ayano-tan._ _Avoid for now_.

"What do you mean 'out of sorts'?" She interrupted eager to get the considerate little Tsundere back in the conversation so she could focus on drying her hair rather than dwelling on serious stuff. "She hasn't been all that different to me; I've still got a footprint on my arse from last night to prove it." The otaku winced as she remembered the tiny pink haired bombshell literally booting her out of what she liked to refer as the _Kawaii Kouhai Keiji._

"Well," more hand-wringing. _This sounds a bit more serious than I thought; Akari isn't usually a worrywart for no reason. Although this is her beloved 'China-chan', so who knows._ "You remember the spaghetti we had last night?"

"Oh yeah! That was delicious," she licked her lips unconsciously. "Up there among Yui and Oppai-chan's best. I didn't know you could cook that well."

"Chinatsu made it."

"Shit!" _Shit! Shit! Sheee-iit!_

"Toshinou Kyouko! Don't curse in the classroom." Ayano turned up to admonish her but stopped when she saw the anxious expression plastered across her pale face. "I-is something wrong?"

"Yoshikawa Chinatsu is the worst cook on the planet." Her reply was toneless.

The younger Ikeda scoffed, "Oh come on you're just exaggerating like usual." She turned to the younger girl seated across from her for confirmation but like her currently-moist friend stopped dead at the way Akari simply nodded in reply to Kyouko's statement.

"No, Chinatsu is about as much of a cook as Kyouko-chan is an upstanding citizen." Was the younger girl's reply. Her childhood friend narrowed her eyes at that, _Hmmm, I feel like that's something most people would say in jest Akari-han. Jeez, who taught her how to slander me like that?_

Her classmates looked a little horrified at the comparison but nodded in understanding. _Ouch._

"Ahum!" Kyouko coughed, trying to get away from the public opinion regarding her own depravity. "Chinatsu-chan has an extraordinary creative talent. If she tries hard to make anything; meals, a painting, a scarf, even a daisy-chain. It turns into something human eyes were not meant to look upon."

Ayano touched her lips as if remembering a crucial fact. "Didn't she win an art prize in Grade 8 for that portrait of Omuro?" _Omuro? Don't think much of Saku-chan huh, Ayano?_

"She passed out from a fever about two hours after she finished that. The less attention she gives something she's making, the better it is."

"Meaning a gourmet meal would be something she threw together in a muddle?" Chizuru offered, making an educated guess.

"More than a muddle," the blonde started to pat dry the President's neck, enjoying the way it flushed red at her touch. "A muddle would be 'Mom's Home-Cooked Dinner', both of you have had a meal at Yui's place before right, or something Oppai-chan cooked for her skinny tsundere lover. It was that good. That's not 'oh my, something is on my mind' Chinatsu-chan, that's more of a 'help, I'm slowly going crazy' Chinatsu-chan."

"I see," Ayano's gaze settled on their kouhai, standing she was taller than all three of them but sitting there, hunched and wringing her hands together she gave off the impression of a lost child. "It's hard."

"Huh?" This time it was Chizuru and Kyouko's turn to be a little confused. Akari locked eyes with the Senpai she admired the most out of the few she felt comfortable around.

"It's really hard being gay sometimes." The older redhead picked at some invisible spot on her desk. "You fall in love just like any other normal girl; experience all the ups and downs that entails and then you pour on three more gigantic concerns. If you're lucky the first is no problem, all it requires is people who accept you after all, but it can be hell for someone who can't find those kinds of people. I don't think Yoshikawa-san needs to worry about that one, ne?" Akari flashed a small grin and shook her head, _yeah no worries there_. "The second is sort of related, what if that girl isn't gay? What if she's homophobic or simply just not on that side of the fence?" Kyouko felt a tiny pinch in her chest, a forgotten remnant of a crush she gave up more than half a decade ago. "And then there's the hardest one. If someone doesn't accept you it's hard, but you can move on. Same if your love turns you down just because you don't have a penis." Akari and Chizuru both blushed at the normally uptight Ayano casually blurting out the word 'penis'. _That was kind of hot; I wonder if I can get her to say more dirty words?_ "But how hard do you imagine it is to know that the object of your affection is not opposed to love between the same sex, but that you aren't the one she's looking at? You aren't the one she wants to touch. Someone who accepts who you are even has the same sexual inclination, but no feelings for you." The blonde's hands pulled away then, because the wrench in her gut at Ayano's words made her want to huddle up and die. _Aaaaah. What am I supposed to say here?_ "So, in summation. It's hard being a lesbian, especially if you have a tendency to be overly imaginative or a worrywart." The look on her face was so serenely sad that even Chizuru swallowed the blunt statement she'd prepared. _Kyaaaah! This is way too awkward…. Akari, say something please._

"Is that how it is?" The younger girl looked thoughtful for a moment; apparently digesting everything she'd just been told. Then worry, and slowly panic took over. "AH! China-chan's extremely imaginative. Ah no. What do I do?" _China-chan? You slipped there Akari, but 'extremely imaginative' is an understatement. That girl could out-sop the cheesiest shoujo mangaka in a heartbeat._

Kyouko rested her hands on her Tsundere friend's shoulders, feeling them tense up at the action, and let out a gigantic sigh to clear her head. _Aa-ah, I hate having to be serious Kyouko. _"How about you tell me exactly what she's been doing that's so out of sorts, besides the marked improvement in her culinary technique."

Akari nodded, the worry draining a little from her face. "She's been avoiding me every now and then; sometimes she won't even look me in the eyes." _Ara? _"Then she'll just clamp up or run off. And her sleeping's been really bad since we moved in together, she's always tossing about in the morning like she's having a nightmare so I have to talk to her so she can calm down." _Ara ara? _"She hasn't come to the public bath with me since Spring Break, and whenever I'm getting dressed she seems like she wants to yell at me, she goes all red and shakes." _Oh, I never thought you were this dense. _"I want to tell her she can say anything to me," _No one could say that you twit. _"But I don't know how to bring it up. What should I do?"

Chizuru dropped her forehead to the desk with a loud 'thunk'.

"Poor Yoshikawa-san," Ayano whispered.

"Akari," Kyouko started but finished with an even bigger sigh than the last.

"Huh?" The poor girl seemed clueless.

"I knew you were immune to hormones but I didn't think you were this oblivious. Didn't you claim a couple of weeks ago that you could always tell what Chinatsu-chan was thinking?"

"Only when I'm touching her," her childhood friend protested. "She won't even let me hold her hand lately." _Of course she wouldn't. It's embarrassing as hell holding the hand of a girl you're crushing on. Even if she is your best friend._ _Especially if she's your best friend._

"Argh!" The blonde idiot furiously mussed up her hair and pointed at the lanky redhead. "BAKA!"

The look on her face was priceless and she wished she had a camera. _Chinatsu would probably sell me her soul for that expression_. The mixture of confusion and hurt was sublimely cute, it almost made her want to suddenly ignore this whole thing and just draw it. But regardless of how irresponsible she seemed to her friends, she wasn't about to brush all of this aside.

"I'll talk to Chinatsu sometime soon, I'm pretty sure she's going to flip out but whatever. It's way to pitiful to leave it as is. I might have to stop molesting her too."

"You just said something rather outrageous then," Chizuru piped up. "So you are aware it's called molestation."

"Of course I'm aware," Kyouko put on an affronted face. "I just don't care because it's fun."

"Toshinou Kyouko! That was even more outrageous."

"If you're gonna stop molesting the pink-shrimp why don't you stop trying with me as well?" The white haired girl said while cracking her knuckles in what she must have thought was a rather menacing way. _Screw it; I'm not holding back my tsukkomi this time_.

"What are you, a Showa manga delinquent? Lame, Chizuru-chan, way too lame." Her frequent attacker's eyebrows twitched at that. "Whatever, I don't need you anyway," she leaned down next to Ayano's face and gave her a peck on the cheek, "I've got Ayano-tan… hmmm, still tastes like tea."

"T-t-t-t-t-t-t-t-t-t-t-t-t-t-t-t-t-t-t-t-t-t-" the Tsundere flushed a red that was nearly as deep as her hair, her eyes looked they were about to start spinning and her mouth just bobbed up and down, stuck on a single consonant. "T-t-t-t-t-t-t-t-t-t-t-t-t-t-t-t-t-t-t-t-t-"

"Ah, whoops," the blonde scratched her head and awkwardly smiled at her other two friends. "I think I broke her."

"Moron." Was the only reply the cold Chizuru had for that.

"Well Akari," she turned and grabbed her clueless kouhai and guided to the door of the classroom, eager to get the girl away before Ayano exploded or whatever was about to happen. "I hope this has helped a little."

"Yes," she answered seriously _gah, so earnest_. "I've got to try understand Chinatsu a little better so that I can help her when she decides to open up to me. I don't think I understand the feelings, but I realise that it must be really hard on her." _You have no idea_. "I knew it had something to do with me. You were right! I am a baka!" _Oh, maybe you do have an idea._ "Yosh, Please tell me when you know what it is so I can fix it right away. Ah! What's wrong Kyouko-chan?"

Kyouko slowly removed the palm of her hand from her face and rested it on Akari's shoulder, "I'll do that Akari. Leave it to me." _Being this romantically oblivious has to be some sort of crime._

"Hai!" Just as she was about to turn and leave her face made that 'oh-I-just-remembered-something' look she'd seen countless times on the younger girl's visage. "Um, Kyouko-chan?"

"What?"

"Would you like to come over to Yui's this weekend for a sleepover?"

The question was perfectly harmless coming from Akari, but she felt as though her veins had frozen. _Yui_. She had mentioned her once or twice during their discussion, it was inevitable, she'd spent more time with Yui than anybody else she knew, including her parents. Despite being the elder of the two, it had always felt as though her raven haired friend was something like an older sister. _I think that but I've barely spoken to her for nearly two weeks._

"I'm not sure Yui would want me over, I haven't exactly been the best buddy lately. We've barely spoken this last week. I mean it's not like I like it bu-"

"I don't like it when you two aren't talking either. It hurts a little in here." The redhead made a melancholic face and pulled her hands against her chest. Every piece of Kyouko that resisted the suggestion of making peace melted, her blood boiled hot again and she actually felt a blush. _Argh, damn that was so freaking touching. I feel like I've done something bad to Chinatsu just by witnessing that._

"I-" her voice caught. Akari, apparently under the impression it was hesitation followed with…

"Yui also said there's two litres of Rum-Raisin waiting for you." _That cunning bitch. _Kyouko's stomach answered for her with a growl so loud a few of the 'corridor peeps' as she liked to call them turned to stare at her, though she was a bit taken aback when they spotted her younger friend and immediately turned away. _I wonder what that was about._

"You've got me. I'll go," she said, giving up in the face of a miserable Akari and the promise of her favourite food.

"YATTA!" The lanky teenage girl wrapped herself around the perverted otaku, feeling equally affectionate but for once keen to maintain her dignity as a senpai she reached up and began to pet her dear childhood friend on the head.

"I'll talk to Yui after school, okay?"

"Hai!" Akari straightened up and gave her one of her most adorable thousand watt smiles before running off.

"T-t-t-t-t-t-t-t-t-t-t-t-t-t-" Ayano was still short-circuiting when she sat back down.

…

"Ayano?"

"T-t-t-tan?!" She finished with what now seemed like an over-exaggerated squeak. The she noticed that Kyouko was now staring at her with a smirk on her face. Somehow she managed to blush even brighter before squealing and running out of the room at full speed.

"Heh," the object of the embarrassed girl's affections snorted at her friend's reaction. _That was hilarious and adorable. I wonder what you call that combination?… Aa-ah I'm tired, I had to be serious Kyouko way too much today. _She looked at Chizuru, happily (_I think_) munching on another onigiri then at where the red-haired and red-faced girl had been. _No way she's gonna tell me off in that state_. A sly grin curled across the blonde's face.

"Ne, Chizuru," she said, eager to set off on another ruckus.

"What?"

"What colour is your bra today? Oh, and if that's too embarrassing, then the colour of your nipples will do."

She dodged the first punch as it cracked through the desk where her head had been a split second before hand, and ran off, dodging the rest by a hair, running across the desks to reach the door while a murderous Ikeda chased her heels. _Ah, my day just isn't full without a hair-raising escape._


	5. Theories

Disclaimer: All of these magnificent characters belong to Namori-sensei, who is most certainly not a scruffy twenty-something from an obscure corner of Tasmania. Hence I do not own this series.

Yo folks, it's been a while. I'll say sorry and just straight up admit to having other stuff on my mind. Games, Books and then my Computer finally gave up the goat and blew up. When I got a new one two weeks ago I was very gung-ho about getting this chapter out at least. At least I was until I checked the light novels, yuri manga and anime I'd missed out on. Then last weeks ep of YRYR gave me the perfect little AkaChina shot to pep up. It's 4AM here at the moment and I figured the other side of the morning was my best bet for finishing it off. Please enjoy, the next one should be out before christmas. I'll promise that much at least.

* * *

Akari was confused. It wasn't often she felt so relieved and burdened at the same time, _Kyouko-chan thinks it has something to do with me too. I knew it_! She sighed, eliciting a curious gaze from her blue-haired classmate, who stopped sweeping the floor and approached.

"Is something the matter Akari-san?" the ever-polite bluenette inquired.

"Hm?" The redhead continued to stare out across the schoolyard, her hands no longer clapping the still dirty blackboard erasers. It was obvious to anyone that she was focused on something far removed from classroom chores.

"Akari?" the tap on her shoulder dragged her from the sullen reverie she was so involved with.

"Ah!" she squawked and brought her hands to her chest suddenly, unwittingly bringing the erasers with them.

The subsequent cloud of chalk dust engulfed both girls and after a brief coughing fit it fell to the floor, providing them with a little more work before they could go home.

"Aa-ah! Sorry Himawari-chan!" she began bowing and apologising as much as she could in a bid to hide her embarrassment. "I'll clean this up for you, you should go home and make sure the chalk doesn-" The firm hand on her shoulder stopped her in her tracks.

"It's perfectly fine Akari-san," a considerate little smile brought a little more heat to Akari's cheeks. "I know how easy it is to make a mistake when something important is on your mind."

"Oh no!" flustered now and unsure of how to calm back down her words began to spin a little. "It wasn't anything super-important. Just… distracting?"

Himawari narrowed her honey-gold eyes. "Has anybody ever told you that you were an atrocious liar?"

She sighed at that, _that's the second time today_. "Y-yes," she replied in as small a voice as she could manage. That matronly smile returned as her big-breasted companion moved back to sweeping.

"You don't have to tell me anything, just let me know if you need any help okay?" The only noise for a moment after that was the soft scraping of the broom as the Student Council Vice-President manoeuvred it around the empty chairs and desks. Akari smiled and gave her friend a silent _thank you _before turning back to the window and continuing her assigned chore in a proper manner.

She was returning the now dust-free erasers to their place and was about to reach for the dustpan to help the bluenette pick up the day's sweepings when they were alerted to a pair of voices they both knew having some sort of argument in the hallway.

"So what? You like her right?" This voice was the louder and was tinged with a superior air. The redhead also noticed the way Himawari's eyes narrowed and her shoulders seemed to bristle. _Saku-chan then_. "Why don't you just tell her?"

"I've told you five times already you moron, it really isn't like that." This voice was a little softer, shriller and the cold and inarguable way she insulted the first made Akari giggle a little to herself. _And that's Chinatsu_. She didn't notice her classmate shoot her a look as she giggled, she did however notice the way she sighed after what the acerbic pinkette said next. "Besides, I really," "OW!" "Don't want to hear something like '_why don't you just tell her_' come out of your mouth."

"Whath's tha s'post te mean?" Sakurako's speech sounded somewhat garbled this time. The silence that followed her question felt heavy and tense for a reason the redhead couldn't quite figure out. Finally it was broken with, "OW! Not the other cheek!"

"I can't figure out if you're being obstinate or ignorant at this point." Chinatsu let out a weary sigh. "Whatever."

A tumbling noise followed by another shout of pain implied that her roommate had gotten bored with the conversation and just a moment later the door opened to reveal the tiny pink-haired dynamo, her blazer hanging out of her bookbag and her usual 'the-whole-damn-world-can-blow-up-for-all-I-care' expression. "Akari, are you good to-" she stopped suddenly and one of her immaculate eyebrows went up in confusion. The two members of Class 1A looked at each other and noticed they still had white dust in their hair and all over their green blazers and began to giggle together.

"What is it? Something funny?" their honey-blonde friend peered around the door frame with an excited look on her face. The eternal child, always looking for some new opportunity to have fun, especially at someone else's expense frowned at the scene. "Oh, it's just Himawari. Man, I thought it might be something good, not a powder-coated breast demon. Damn." She stood straight and clasped her hands behind her head, towering over her classmate still standing in the open doorway. Sakurako, much like Akari had shot up like a weed over the last half-year and now resembled a louder and darker haired version of her older sister. Her personality however seemed to have stopped at 12, she was still brash, wishy-washy, and moody and a constant source of irritation for her childhood friend.

"Sakurako." Himawari's voice was suddenly devoid of the gentle and considerate tone she usually addressed everybody else with. The frosty and bleak way she merely pronounced the **name** of her oldest friend still made the meek redhead want to cringe away sometimes. "Where is your bookbag?"

"Huh?" the honest look of confusion in her chocolate brown eyes made them all glance at her for a moment. "It's at home. Why?"

"Just that usually a 'student' would bring it to school, filled with the various things they might need for class that day," the bluenette slowly moved closer to the lanky blonde while gearing up for a lecture. Her voice still frosty but as always, using inexorably formal language. "A pencil case, note and textbooks for specific subjects, a change of clothes if necessary and perhaps a bento of homemade or store-bought varieties. Not to mention your student handbook, various other pieces of identification and even money or a train pass."

"Are you an idiot?" Sakurako seemed to be amused for some inexplicable reason. "We walk to school, why would I need a train pass. Pu~ Himawari, you're such an airhead sometimes."

Eyebrows twitched dangerously; Akari backed away slightly and Chinatsu gleefully watched on both knowing from experience the inevitable end this conversation was coursing towards. "That was not my point, Sakurako. Your bookbag is an important part of your daily life; it isn't just used for ferrying things to school but back to your home as well."

"What am I gonna do with my schoolbooks at home? If they're at home then they won't be here when I need them." The superior tone in her voice made it hard to tell if she was wilfully ignoring what was wrong with that statement or if she was truly clueless.

"Your homework baka."

"AH!" the shining look of surprise on her face was heart-wrenching. _Saku-chan… _"I nearly forgot! If I don't have my notebook how can I copy Himawari's answers?" A sharp **CRACK** followed that statement and despite the fact that she was now the shorter of the pair the bluenette seemed to loom like an impenetrable fortress. Chinatsu stifled a laugh. "OW! What the hell was that for you H-Cup Abomination?!" The pinkette's muffled laughter turned into a coughing fit. _H-Cup? H is how big? I'm a B so… _Akari's cheeks turned the same shade as her hair as she compared the size in her head. Himawari's face however had quickly passed crimson and was well on its way to burgundy.

"My cup-size has nothing to do with this you unforgivable moron." She followed that statement with a weary shake of her head and a sigh that implied she was weighed down with more than just a heavy chest. "It's my fault. I'm sorry."

"Well," the arrogant troublemaker quickly tried to jump on the upper hand and finally defeat her 'hated' rival. "I'm glad you-"

"It's my fault for thinking you'd actually grow up just because we're in high school now. No, that was stupid. You're right! I am an idiot for thinking you might possibly be able to think for yourself without causing me a headache. Aa-ah." As she rubbed her nose in mock despondency, this time it was Sakurako's eyebrows that twitched, it seemed that this resigned and rather calm way of insulting her was much more effective than simple shouting.

"You-you-you…" Nothing coherent seemed to be coming up and just as Akari felt she needed to interrupt to keep this from becoming a full on brawl a loud and obviously fake cough sounded out.

"Ga-hum!" Chinatsu was still standing where she had started, an amused smirk plastered across her porcelain features. "As hilarious as I find your little tsundere v tsundere spats I'm here to pick up one Akaza Akari, I'd prefer her non-traumatised so that's the match for today. Winner is the ecchi-chest, loser is the surfboard. Akari, I'm leaving in five, catch up." At that she turned around and strode away leaving all the occupants of the room in a daze. It lasted nearly five seconds before both of the 'tsunderes' realised what she's said on her way out.

"WHO'S A SURFBOARD?!" "W-w-what do you mean 'ecchi-chest'?" _Chinatsuuu…_

Their walk home was a little more sedate than most days. Chinatsu seemingly did not want to talk about anything and was content to simply stroll next to her best friend not that said best friend would have noticed anyway. She was far too busy mulling over everything she'd learned today. First was that her roommate and precious companion was troubled by something she couldn't talk about freely. Second was what she'd come to learn about matters of the heart concerning those of homosexual tendencies. Third was that whatever was going on had something to do with her, _Kyouko-chan said it was and she is right most of the time_. She stopped in her musings a moment to remember all the times Kyouko had been right and mentally cringed. None of them had been particularly pleasant predictions and most of them had ended up causing Akari some injury or embarrassment. Fourth was something she'd overheard just ten minutes ago, _Saku-chan said Chinatsu has a crush on someone, but Chinatsu said that isn't it. So what is it? Not a crush? Admiration? 'Rivalry' like Saku-chan and Himawari-chan? I haven't seen her been like that with anybody though… _Her feet stopped as she suddenly recalled venomous words and violence. _Kyouko-chan?!_

The pinkette realised her friend had stopped walking and turned around, a bemused expression on her doll-like face. "Something bizarre rattling around in your head?"

"Huh?"

"You stopped walking, then looked like you'd imagined something horrendous."

"Kyouko-chan is not horrendous!" she very near yelled in response. Forgetting for a moment where she was and what she was doing. Her head whipped to and fro as she tried to work out these important details.

Chinatsu chuckled a little, "I think I must respectfully disagree with that statement. I honestly can't think of a word that describes her better." Then she added in a much lower tone - "except maybe deviant."

_Not Kyouko-chan then_. Akari was at a loss about who and what to think of next. She wasn't good at romance, seeing it for most of her life as something other people who weren't Akaza Akari had and she didn't. Not that she minded at all, it looked fun sometimes, but it also looked exhausting and rather unrelated to her own thought processes. _Perhaps I'm thinking the wrong way? Maybe I should think more like Chinatsu. Hmmm, 'Akari could you lie down over here? I want to practice my acupuncture.' 'Akari, let's have beef and black beans tonight!' 'Akari- _while she tried to internalise the right balance of hot and cold she was unaware of the pinkette watching her carefully _-I'm so glad you're here, pretty please can you help me?' 'Aa-ah, I feel like laying here forever like a sponge. Will you still love me even if I turn into a sea sponge, Akari?' 'Huh? Senpai I think you've made a mistake in thinking I actually care about your opinion.' 'Get off of her- _at this point she cracked her knuckles as a physical link to the memory _-now! Or would you prefer I remove your teeth?' 'Ara, senpai? I never knew yo-_

"Want a drink?"

"Not really, but if you're going to get one then… yeah, I suppose." In her current dedication to trying to think like her best friend she had unwittingly answered just as she thought Chinatsu would have.

"Huh?"

"Huh?"

The two girls stared at each other for a moment before Chinatsu nearly snorted in her hand and seemed to have to stifle another chuckle. "Akari?" The redhead's cheeks blushed pink.

"Hai, Chinatsu?"

"Can I get you a drink."

Akari covered her face with her hands and simply intoned an affirmative. She was embarrassed that her thoughts had slipped out like that and made her sound like an obnoxious version of her best friend, and instead of being angry or hurt she had just laughed it away. If she had stopped to think perhaps she might have realised that this aspect of Chinatsu was what had made it so easy to relax in each other's company right from the day they'd met. Unfortunately the scarlet-haired girl's thoughts were tangled up in trying to decipher all the theories, ideas and even new concepts she'd been introduced to today. As it was she also failed to notice the sparkle in her pink-haired companion's eyes and was treated to quite a shock as she downed half a can of _Masochist Cider_ in one distracted gulp.

"Geh." Her mind quickly caught up to her mouth. The taste was unique and while not intrinsically disgusting, or even bad. It just had a certain piquancy that reminded Akari of bitter melons, overripe bananas and stale shortcake. All wrapped up into one heavily carbonated gulp; not a flavour that was conducive to intricate thought processes - indeed it was not conducive to any thought processes besides being forced to contemplate the cavalcade of not particularly nice elements which made up _Maso-Cider_.

Chinatsu at least seemed to be enjoying her roommate's dissatisfaction with the choice of drinks. Holding back actual laughter but amusement dripping from every syllable she asked, "Don't like it? We can swap if you want to." At this violet eyes narrowed and gazed at the can in the prankster's hand. It was as familiar as the one she held in her own. Likely because they were exactly the same thing. She didn't know exactly why the pinkette had decided to mess with her, she only knew there was one response.

"MOU! China-chan… why did you get two cans of this nasty stuff?" She stared dejectedly at the can in her hands, trying not to think about having another gulp.

"Haha, Sorry Akari. They're having a prize draw but you need the number on each individual can to enter. I already have about 5 empty cans at home."

Curious all of a sudden Akari glanced at the side of her can and saw a small list of prizes ranging from a year's supply of the rotten drink to an all-expenses-paid vacation at a tropical island resort off the coast of Australia. _Wow! _ She'd never even been outside of the country in her life and the only times she'd boarded a plane were going to and returning from the school trip to Okinawa in 2nd year. She contemplated some of the other prizes - a new car, an entertainment system, a 1-day 2-night Hot Springs trip, a bunch of merchandise, etc. It was while she was distracted like this that she took another swig.

"Euch."

"You don't have to drink it all if you don't like it, I'll go get you something swe-"

"That's not it." Akari sighed and blushing still but for a different reason. "I don't actually dislike it. Which means I'm a… a… and that makes me want to just go euch and blech and all of that."

"Huh, most people get turned off by the taste." Her turquoise eyes sparkled alongside her tiny grin. "I wouldn't worry about that, not everyone who drinks it is a masochist. Can you see me calling anyone, at any point in my fleeting existence on this planet… -sama?" Her low chuckle, a contrast to her shrill voice made Akari's chest warm. _I haven't heard her laugh this much for a while. Heehee, I'm so glad_. She unconsciously took another swig of the cider, which was promptly followed by another 'euch!'


End file.
